Last Chance to Sign Up
This Weekend: Dec. 7 & 8 - From Conflict to Connection: Fundamentals of Nonviolent Communication

Fundraiser for the MOFGA-El Salvador Sistering Committee
Learn to improve your relationship with yourself, your family, co-workers or community, with certified Nonviolent Communication Trainer Peggy Smith. In this workshop, you will gain skills for using daily conflicts to relate more authentically and compassionately - building trust in a multi-sensory learning experience that fosters safety, depth and fun. This event has a value of $140; as a fundraiser for MOFGA and two other environmental organizations, it is offered to the public by donation. Information and registration.

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MOFGA Joins National Media Campaign about the Severity of Pollinator Declines

On Dec. 2, MOFGA was among more than 60 organizations that joined Beyond Pesticides, Center for Food Safety and Pesticide Action Network, supported by Ceres Trust, in launching a national media campaign to bring attention to the severity of pollinator declines due in part to the use of bee-harming pesticides. The campaign launch was timed to coincide with the beginning of the European Union's two-year moratorium on three of the most potent neonicotinoid insecticides. A copy of the ad is available at www.save-bees.org.

As part of the national media campaign, full page ads were released in seven newspapers, including the New York Times, citing the urgency and impact of bee declines and encouraging the public to call on EPA to take action. Information.

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A Good Time to Renew Your MOFGA Membership

In 2014, MOFGA membership rates will increase slightly. This will be the first membership rate increase since 2004.

We appreciate the generosity of MOFGA's supporters and hope you will join or renew at the highest level that fits your budget. We continue to offer a $20 Seeding membership for students, seniors on fixed incomes and other people who may need the reduced rate. Thank you for any support that you can give. We are happy to have you as a member!

Meet MOFGA certified organic farmers Molly Crouse and Everett Ottinger. Molly owns Nettie Fox Farm (www.nettiefoxfarm.com) in Newburgh, where she has been raising vegetables, herbs, cut flowers and vegetable seedlings. She sells through her CSA, at farmers' markets (the Common Ground Country Fair, Penobscot Valley, Northeast Harbor and Bangor), at the Natural Living Center and from the farm. Molly, a former MOFGA farmer-in-residence, grew up just a few miles from the land where she now farms, went away to work on farms far and near, then returned to Newburgh. She named her farm for her grandmother.

Everett owns Del Rio Farm in Penobscot, where he has been raising vegetables and herbs. He sells to the Blue Hill Coop, Cheryl Wixson's Kitchen, Arborvine restaurant, MOFGA and the Magic Food Bus. The latter delivers vegetables, library books, information about local farms and tips on healthy food preparation. It is a project of Healthy Peninsula, which mobilizes, supports and collaborates with community partners to improve the health of the towns of the Blue Hill peninsula, Deer Isle and Stonington.

Molly and Everett have merged their farms, and Everett will be farming in Newburgh next year. They'll be raising mixed vegetables, chickens and pigs.

eOrganic Webinar: Late Blight of Tomato and Potato: Recent Occurrences and Management ExperiencesJanuary 14, 2014 at 2 p.m. Eastern Time - This devastating disease has been occurring more often in the USA recently, especially on tomatoes. Beginning and experienced growers need to understand changes in the pathogen that account for this change and other facts about recent occurrences in order to manage late blight effectively. The Webinar will enable researchers and growers to share information about managing late blight with copper, biofungicides, and resistant varieties, and utility of the USABlight monitoring program and the Decision Support System. More details.Registration.

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NRCS Announces Application Cut Off for Conservation Program Funding

NRCS has announced that December 20, 2013 is the application cut off date for conservation program funding in the coming fiscal year. NRCS provides cost share assistance to producers who wish to implement a variety of conservation practices on their farm. Examples include activity plans for transitioning to organic production, a variety of farming and forestry practices and the popular seasonal high tunnel program. More information.

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Waldo County Trails Coalition Hike at MOFGA

Saturday, December 14, 10 a.m. to noon

Join the Waldo County Trails Coalition for a hike on Saturday, Dec. 14, from 10 a.m. to about noon. The hike will start at the kiosk at MOFGA's field on Crosby Brook Road, next to (and on the same side of the road as) the Northern Solstice Alpaca Farm, and will go to Quaker Hill Road. A shuttle will be available at Quaker Hill Road to transport people back to MOFGA at the end of the hike. FMI please contact Buck O'Herin, buckoherin@fairpoint.net, or visit www.waldotrails.org.

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William Coperthwaite

Condolences to the family and many friends of William (Bill) Coperthwaite, who died on Nov. 26 in a car accident. Peter Forbes, who collaborated with Bill Coperthwaite on the book, A Handmade Life, described the Maine homesteader as an architect, author, maker and visionary social critic. Forbes' remembrance of his good friend - an inspiration to many in the MOFGA community - is posted at Vermont Commons.

December 7 & 8 - From Conflict to Connection: The Fundamentals of Nonviolent Communication. With certified Nonviolent Communication Trainer Peggy Smith. This event has a value of $140; as a fundraiser for MOFGA and two other environmental organizations, it is offered to the public by donation. Information and registration (PDF).

December 12 - Economics of Organic Dairy Farming Webinar with Dr. Bob Parsons of the University of Vermont. 2 p.m. Eastern Time. Free and open to the public; advance registration required. Attendees will be able to type in questions for the speaker. Registration.

January 7 - MOFGA annual membership meeting. 1:30 p.m., Maine Agricultural Trades Show, Augusta Civic Center. Hear reports from MOFGA board members, staff and committees; vote on a slate of board members. Q&A period. This is also MOFGA Day at the Trades Show - a full day of presentations and workshops on organic production in Maine. Free.

January 17 - Deadline to apply for new enrollment in the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) for federal fiscal year 2014. CSP participants receive an annual land use payment for operation-level environmental benefits they produce. Information and a link to a checklist that can help you determine if the CSP is right for you.

February 24 - Deadline for applying for Value-Added Producer Grants. This program helps agricultural producers create new products, expand marketing opportunities, support further processing of existing products or goods, or develop specialty and niche products. Grants may be used for working capital and planning activities. The maximum working capital grant is $200,000; the maximum planning grant is $75,000. Eligible applicants include independent producers, farmer and rancher cooperatives, and agricultural producer groups. Funding priority is given to socially disadvantaged and beginning farmers or ranchers and to small- to medium-size family farms, or farmer/rancher cooperatives. Details.

February 26-27 - Sustaining the Living Landscape, Ecological Landscaping Assoc., Springfield, Mass. Keynote: Dr. John Todd, "Healing the Waters: A Tale of Ecology and Living Technologies." Brochure.